Ramblings of an apothecary

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The Apothecary’s Garden

My garden was christened with this title some 20 years ago, by my kids actually! They used to be amused at seeing their mum arrive home from work completely stressed out (high pressure job in the pharmaceutical industry) dash out into the garden, grab a sprig each of chamomile, lavender and lemon balm, crush and inhale deeply then the cares of the day would fade away. The garden was still fairly new at that time a quarter acre plot into which I cram as many herbs as possible, old roses, annual flowers for cutting and basically anything else I have a fad for, the current one is grasses. The garden at the front of the house is laid out in four box-hedge beds around a sundial bed. The beds contain a happy mix of herbs, roses and perennials. I also squeeze in some annual flowers for cutting.

Felicia – one of my favourite old roses

More old roses are grown in a separate bed with campanulas, alliums and nepeta. The shady part of the garden houses woodland planting my favourites being the hellebores.
The herbs are grown in raised beds with separate beds for medicinal, culinary and aromatic herbs. Can you spot a certain grey persian cat called Portia.I’ll be including in my blog highlights of the garden throughout the seasons plus posts on how I use herbs from the garden in cooking, for simple medicinal remedies, and for cosmetics.
The Apothecary’s Garden is not an ordered garden or a designer garden, it doesn’t open under the National Garden Scheme, it’s just my sanctuary where I grow all my favourite plants and through my posts I want to share all the highs and lows with you.